iPhone products are being collected in foreign countries and then carried to China, where the products are renewed before entering the Vietnamese market. The old phones, which have been upgraded to look like brand new products, have been welcomed by many Vietnamese users, who do not have much money, but want to use high grade products.

Showing the first-generation iPhone in silver color, Duc Lam in district 4 of HCM City said he bought it at 3.2 million dong. Lam knows that the iPhone is an old product which has been renewed, but he still decided to buy the product, because the phone looks very good and especially, it fits Lam’s pocket.

Especially, Lam feels satisfied with his iPhone with an aluminum cover, because his phone turns out to be an “original” product.

Duc Trung in district 3 of HCM City also bought a 2G iPhone like Lam’s. After three days of using, Trung read on Internet that it could be upgraded into iOS4 and decided to install the new firmware. However, only the logo of the beaten apple appeared and… lied still. Trung then brought the iPhone to the shop for maintenance. However, the shop’s owner refused to give Trung another product, because he had warned before that the product must not be upgraded in firmware.

Nguyen An, the owner of the mobile phone shop in district 1, said that renewed 2G iPhones have been flooding in Vietnam in recent years. The products have new covers, the software pieces have been redone, running 3.1.3 version, and headphones and battery charge.

An said that the products have been imported to Vietnam through unofficial channels.

The ad pieces for offering to sell old iPhones have also appeared on online shopping websites and IT forums. In general, the products are priced at 3 million dong.

A wholesaler of iPhones in district 11 of HCM City has affirmed that the 2G iPhones have been sourced from Shenzhen. The businessmen here have large networks which are in charge of collecting old products from everywhere in the world for renewing.

The products originally made by Apple would be replaced with new accessories and new covers to turn into brand new products.

An information technology expert said that generating a new phone on the basis of original boards is no more a new thing. Two or three years ago, when Vietnamese people favored Black Berry, they also used renewed products.

“The tendency has returned with people rushing to buy renewed iPhones. Old products, rubbish products from Europe and US have been repaired and then carried to Vietnam and some other South East Asian countries,” An said

Quoc Thang, a technique officer of a shop on Vo Van Tan street of HCM City, said Apple’s products all have high quality; therefore, the renewed products would still work. However, he said, after a period of using them, problems would arise. The most popular problems are the low quality touch screen, Wi-Fi connection problems, weak batteries and errors when making phone calls.

The low price proves to be the most important reason that makes people to buy renewed iPhone 2G.

According to Hai Long, a fan of Apple products, manufacturers estimate that the life circle of a mobile phone is about two years. Therefore, the errors in renewed products, which have been existing for 4-5 years, are inevitable.